


Timeless

by MeganandPeyton



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-10 05:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganandPeyton/pseuds/MeganandPeyton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“With eyes as bright as yours, I don’t think I could ever forget.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

1918; a year that brought peace to nations in the conclusion of the first World War, and solace to the families of those fighting the battle. Thick train tracks wound tightly through the mountains of Huntingdon, England in the county of Cambridgeshire, brought strong men back home with the wind in their hair and war in their eyes. They were brought back to families, to loving wives and children, to aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents alike, but there was one who had no such person to return to. Louis Tomlinson, at the age of 18, was drafted against his will to join the war years prior, leaving his large family behind and expecting them to be there upon his return. A letter from the town of his origin was presented to him one frigid night on duty and his hopes came crashing down, a voice in the back of his mind constantly reminding him of their having been taken away.

Harry Styles, a young boy of only 16, coming from a wealthy family, was blind to the hardships that those less fortunate were forced to muddle through. Waiting for his cousin at the train station for hours on end it was hard for Harry to keep from wandering off, and stumbling upon a small swallow pin at his feet he felt it rude to not run to catch up with the lone soldier who had dropped it. Upon meeting up with the stranger, Harry suddenly became nervous in such a lad’s presence, looking into eyes that certainly redefined every shade of ocean blue he’d ever seen, it was music to his ears when he was told to keep the pin to himself.

As Christmas comes and goes, it seems that it is only coincidence that Louis and Harry continue to see each other around town, and suddenly a longing for the other manifests itself in the souls of each young boy. There must be a reason they keep stumbling upon one another, isn’t there? Through secret meetings, dinner dates, house visits, and daily trips to the market square, the couple faces a problem that has never occurred to either before now. Could they have feelings for each other? Feelings that lied beyond a friendly fellowship? In times like these, not many have ever given a second thought to a man falling in love with one of his own gender, but was it possible? Redefining the laws of time, Louis and Harry fight against all odds to prove that what they have is not wrong, and should never have been thought as such. Being sent back to war for the second time was against Louis’ choosing, and it wasn’t written in Harry’s journal to be married off to a woman he knows so little about. “Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could,” (Barbara de Angelis). So why is everyone trying to tear it apart? Redefining all these things through hand scribed letters from far off lands and notes produced by an expensive typewriter, Louis and Harry are proving that love is, in fact, timeless.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “With eyes as bright as yours, I don’t think I could ever forget.”

Stepping off of the train and into the familiar station sent a rush of relief through his body, heat gripping him from the tips of his toes to the slightly tousled state of the hair on his head, simulating the friendly embrace Louis Tomlinson knew he would not receive. Coming home from war meant being relieved of all his duties, and sure, he was thrilled to be alive. But leaving a dusty cot in which he had made his home for the past few years also meant he would need to resume life living in the one he had back in England. It was tough not having anything to fall back on after having been gone for so long, but his own pride in himself was enough to lessen the dull ache of loneliness in his heart.  
It wasn’t his choice that he was left without a mom or dad to welcome him home. It wasn’t by his choosing that the only family he’d ever known was taken from their home too early. The wishes he made on shooting stars dancing ever so delicately across the sky without so much as a sound as he looked out his bedroom window at age eleven did not hold the faintest trace of what his future had become. Louis Tomlinson was alone, and there was no such thing in existence to change that.  
“Sir?” a small voice interrupted his thoughts. Louis spun around on the his heels, instantly snapping to attention and being on guard as he prepared to be directed his next orders. But wait. He was home. A new flood of unsteady relief came rushing over him as he realized he was back where he came from, feeling like a never-ending loop with no escape.  
There was a young, gangly-limbed boy standing in front of him, looking to be only a few years Louis’ junior, holding something concealed in his fist.  
“Can I help you?” Louis asked the kid, trying to be respectful, but the clearly superior attire the boy sported causing a rude edge in his tone. Was it jealousy that caused this, or just a general annoyance of the world around him?  
“Um, I uh…” The kid stammered, clutching the fist to his chest and, with the other hand, nervously fiddled with the spear-like lapels on his belted jacket. “You dropped something.”  
With that he held out his fist, slowly overturning it and opening it up to reveal a pin no bigger than the size of a coin. Louis glanced at the boy’s opened palm, seeing the familiar half-rusted swallow pin he had on him at all times, the one thing that kept him from being truly alone. It was a mixture of the anger and spite that caused Louis to say what he said next.  
“Keep it,” he told the kid without a second thought, taking a step back to show he did not want to take the pin back. “Merry Christmas.”  
The kid gave Louis a lighthearted sort of half smile, steadying his eyes on the pin and slipping it into his pocket. “You too, sir,” he said before turning around and walking back to his family, most likely to await the arrival of whoever it was they were waiting for to return home safe.  
“I didn’t even get the lad’s name,” Louis whispered quietly to himself, taking one final glance in the general direction of the curly haired bloke before resuming his lonely walk down a path he’s seeing there is no purpose walking over any longer.  
He made his way wistfully to the shabby home he had once known so well, not having to linger his thoughts too long on the subject of where he was headed. It was perceived to Louis now as new and off-putting, causing a hesitant pause in his repetitive steps, eyes flicking up from the decaying leaf floor he walked upon. Getting a good look at his home, he felt returning memories, flooding in like constant raindrops, gathering up quickly, he shook them off before they overflowed. Pulling the old key from his pocket, twisting it effortlessly and kicking the door closed behind him, the easiness then set in. He was back home, and despite the loneliness ringing in the dark hallways, he felt somewhat comforted for the first time in nearly two years.  
Darting up the steps two-by-two like the spritely child he once was, Louis collapsed into the sweet abyss that was his cold, stiff bed. The sheets had not been touched in so long, and knowing him, they were rustled from the last time he had been curled up in the warmth they never failed to provide.  
“Good night,” he said to no one in particular, the words hanging motionlessly in the air almost as if they were waiting for someone to hold their meaning in their arms, and maybe, hold Louis just as close too.


	3. Chapter 2

“Hey!” a man’s voice that was all too familiar pierced the frigid air, offsetting the steady chill of the atmosphere around him. The feeling of relief flooding over Harry like the warm rain of summer, washing him clean of his worries as he made eye contact with the grizzly soldier saluting him with a smile affirming more than just loyalty. Harry felt a subtle release in his chest, letting out a breath he was unaware he was holding, causing a tiny cloud of steam to escape the chilled confines of his chapped lips. The firm sound of his thick heeled boots colliding with the uneven bricks as he stepped off the train only built the feeling of sheer anticipation, excitement in its purest form coursing through his veins as his cousin picked up his speed and started running toward his family. Harry absent-mindedly ran his thumb over the rusted metal pin residing in the loose fabric of his coat pocket, nearly yanking his feet from the ground to greet Warren. Warren had become much stronger, broader, yet sadder since he was last home. It’d been three years since Harry had seen his cousin, and the impeccably light-hearted gleam that had day after day resided in his bright hazel eyes was merely but a faded memory, replaced by a new sternness that reflected back what he had seen. The gladrags he had packed were bound around him as if they were struggling to contain his newly sculpted muscles, not to mention the shabby look they had taken on.  
Before Harry could even approach his cousin, he was nearly knocked off his stilts by an unknown whirlwind sprinting toward him. When his balance caught up with him, he looked up to see Warren holding his wife Thea in his arms, nearly able to feel the electric spark of both relief and passion as the two touched skin-to-skin for the first time in over 1095 days.  
Thea was a lively little thing, not nearly one hundred pounds but a bearcat at that, and dark mahogany hair to prove it. She always looked neat and kept, the light blue dress she was wearing adorning her body, one she had borrowed from Harry’s aunt years prior when she accompanied his family to a formal dinner party. Warren always went on about how much he loved it on her. “It brings out her eyes,” he said. And that it did. Thea had eyes of dark brown, so dark her pupils were nearly invisible at most times. But the gentleness that shone through her eyes reflected the love gleaming in Warren’s staring back at her, and that was the time when they both were the most beautiful.  
Thea looked like a graceful porcelain doll, so delicate and soft, almost fearful she may break in Warren’s strong embrace. She always had such glowing, milky skin, each details symmetrical and smooth. The epitome of rebellious beauty, something that many men found to be the absolute berries, and Harry had to agree.  
Harry kicked a chipping piece of brick with his boot, glancing up to now see the couple mugging right there in the station. He gave a chuckle of understanding as the passionate pair gathered a few hoots and hollers from bystanders. Setting a very flustered Thea down, the seemingly familiar gleam was near return to Warren’s eyes. It was Thea who put that glimmer there and Thea who brought it back.  
Thea dropped her hand to her side as Warren noticed the rest of his family standing a short ways away from where they stood, respecting his new desires to greet them by taking a step back and gently urging him forward. “Go on,” she said quietly. “They’ve missed you.”  
A smile spread slowly across Harry’s face as he was suddenly hit by the weight of a heavyset man, his embrace acting almost as an adhesive binding him together as the pressure of the world threatened to tear him limb from limb. As the rest of the world caved in around him, the fact that Warren was home safe was a friendly reminder that Harry’s family was now whole once more. An old set of worries was lifted, and tears of joy flooded everyone’s eyes, a group hug lasting a minute in silence being the confirmation that the Styles family would do just fine.


End file.
